Thought # 23                                                             May  2009
Author: Bill Thurston

Happy Mother's Day.

Mother's Day ranks as the third most popular holiday in the world, after Christmas and Easter.

Countries that celebrate a form of Mother Day include Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, France ,Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Yugoslavia, United Kingdom, United States.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honor of mothers.

Celebrating motherhood is a very old tradition. The ancient Greeks celebrated Rhea, the mother of all gods. They honored Rhea with honey cakes and fine drinks and flowers at dawn. That sounds like the beginning of the Mother's Day tradition of breakfast in bed! The ancient Romans also honored their mother goddess Cybele. Celtic Pagans marked the coming of spring with a fertility celebration linking their goddess Brigid together with the first milk of the ewes.

Some facts about moms:

There were an estimated  82.8 million mothers in the United States in 2004.

55% of 15 to 44 year olds are mothers.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html

81% of women 40 to 44 are mothers. In 1976, 90 percent of women in that age group were mothers.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html

August is the month with the highest number of births.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm

Tuesday is the day of the week with the highest number of births.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm

Retailers report Mother's Day as the second highest gift giving day of the year behind Christmas.

Here is what we buy for moms:  Mother's Day Purchases

Total Mother’s Day spending is $14.10 billion, which is slightly more than Easter.

The majority of people (66.8%) will buy flowers for mom, spending a total of $1.9 billion on those purchases.

Slightly more than half (54.8%) will treat mom to a special outing such as dinner or brunch, for a total of $2.7 billion.

People will also spend $2.3 billion on jewelry.

$1.5 billion on gift cards.

$1.2 billion on clothing or clothing accessories.

 $1.1 million on personal services such as a day at the spa.

$857 million on electronics or computer-related accessories.

 $587 million on housewares and gardening tools.

 $487 million on books or CDs.

A Thought

As we continue to search for solutions to make this United States a better place, maybe we should have a better forum to listen to moms. For example, if you asked moms what should be done to help with the education of their children, I bet you would get arguably the best solutions.

Happy Mother's Day!

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